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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: tear · press · stock · cell · straw · bat

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. cell — a phone
  4. press — to push
  5. bat — the animal
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. tear — from crying
  11. press — a publisher
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. press — newspapers
  16. stock — shares
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — in a prison

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com